Worse Than It Looks
by PrincessSara1998
Summary: Lumpy gets the measles and suffers from it. And Team Rocket’s Meowth has to take care of him. Lumpy’s Crossover Adventures. Currently unfinished.
1. chapter 1

"In other news, much of the environment in Multimedia has become infested with an assortment of different viruses. Some of them include the common cold, bronchitis and measles, among others. If you're going to be outside today, it is strongly recommended that you receive all of your shots at your local doctor's office."

"Ugh, great. More nonsense about disease. That's just gross," Meowth said to himself.

"Yeah, you're right, but I don't need to worry about that," Lumpy said. "I already got all my shots."

"You better not be joking about that..." Meowth said. It almost sounded like he was warning Lumpy.

"No, really, I did." Lumpy tried to reassure him. "It wasn't easy, though, I kept laughing every time they put the needle in my arm."

"L-laughing? What?" Meowth couldn't believe what he had heard. "Why?"

"Because it tickled!"

Meowth facepalmed in response. He couldn't think of anybody, or anything, that would laugh in response to a painful sensation such as that.

"Lumpy, have you ever heard of pain?" Meowth asked, flatly.

"Well, yeah, but I don't feel it anymore. I've been tickled too many times."

"Sounds like an excuse..." Meowth looked suspicious for a moment. "I'm still serious about the shots, though."

"Come on, how can you not think I got my shots?"

Lumpy then looked down at his hand, but saw that it had a rash of small red spots on it. He didn't seem to worry about it, however; in fact, he didn't even think it was anything serious.

"Oh, I think I got the chicken pox again. Maybe if I just scratch it..."

Lumpy started scratching the back of his hand, but felt a good amount of pain from doing so. He quickly stopped as he cringed and screamed in pain.

"AAAAH!! THAT TICKLES!!!"

"You... just screamed in pain..." Meowth pointed out, an expression of disbelief on his face.

"But this is the bad kind of tickles!!" Lumpy looked and sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

Lumpy then noticed that spots were appearing all over his body, not just on his hand. It was at this point that he started to get worried.

"Meowth! You gotta take me to the doctor, and fast!"

Meowth sighed to himself in response.

"Why does it always gotta be me?"

He knew what he had to do, however. Meowth took Lumpy's car keys, put on some sanitary gloves, grabbed onto Lumpy's hand and walked him out of the living room. When they got outside, Lumpy cringed and tried covering his body with his hand.

"AAAH!! The light, it tickles!!"

Ignoring him, Meowth walked Lumpy to the car and put him in the back seat. Getting into the front seat, Meowth put on his seat belt, started up the car's engine and drove down to Dr. Mario's office. Along the way, Lumpy tried as hard as he could to deal with his spots, but he just couldn't. Every thing he did seemed to upset at least some of them, and bring about some pain.

When they finally got there, Lumpy cringed again when he stepped out of the car. Meowth took him into the office and went over to the receptionist's booth while Lumpy sat in the waiting room.

"I need an appointment for my friend Lumpy," Meowth said to the receptionist. "He's clearly not well."

The receptionist gave him a couple of papers to sign, and he did so. When he was finished, he gave them back.

"Thank you. We'll be ready as soon as possible," they told him.

The moment Lumpy entered the waiting room, most of the other people and characters who were waiting to get their appointments cringed and moved away from him. Lumpy sulked in response.

"What's wrong? I just have the chicken pox..." Lumpy then raised his hand to his mouth and coughed a few times. When he finished, he suddenly looked surprised. "Huh, that's never happened before... at least, not when I'm like this."

Meowth went into the waiting room and sat in one of the chairs. He made sure to stay as far away from Lumpy as he could, out of fear that he would catch his illness.

After a few minutes, the door opened, and a nurse called out for Lumpy. He and Meowth got up as they headed into the hallways of the doctor's office. To Lumpy's slight dismay, he had to check his height and weight before he could actually be diagnosed. Eventually, however, he finally made it into one of the examination rooms and sat down on the table.

"This is the weirdest chicken pox I've ever had..." Lumpy said.

"Lumpy, for the last time, this ain't the chicken pox! You clearly got something worse!" Meowth replied out of irritation.

"Are you sure they're not the same thing?" Lumpy asked.

"Of course they're not! How can you be so dopey?!"

Meowth then ignored most of Lumpy's dialogue for the rest of their wait. As Lumpy waited for hte doctor to come in, his symptoms started to become more obvious. Besides his spots, he coughed a few times, even though he kept covering them with his hand. He also started to feel uncomfortably hot. After a few minutes had gone by, the door opened and Dr. Mario stepped in.

"Hello! It's-a me, Dr. Mario!" he greeted them.

"Hey, Mario," Meowth responded, flatly.

"So, what seems to be the pro--?" Dr. Mario didn't get to finish his sentence, however, when he took one look at Lumpy, covered head to foot in spots. In fact, even his antlers had spots. "Mama Mia! That looks bad!"

"Doctor, I have spots, but they don't itch. Is that good?" Lumpy asked.

"He thinks he has the chicken pox," Meowth explained. "He doesn't have it, does he?"

"Hmm..." Dr. Mario thought about this. "I'm gonna have to run a few tests."

"Whatever." Meowth got out a magazine and started reading it as Dr. Mario identified Lumpy's condition.

"Open up and say ah, please."

"Ah..." Lumpy held it out for a few seconds as Dr. Mario looked into his mouth.

"Ooh, that doesn't look good..." Dr. Mario then took a thermometer and inserted it into Lumpy's mouth. A few moments later, it beeped, and Dr. Mario took it out and looked at it. "Oh, my... I don't like the looks of that, either!"

"You know what the weirdest thing is?" Meowth asked. "Every time he feels pain, he says it tickles."

"Really?" Dr. Mario raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of that..."

"Yeah." Lumpy raised one of his feet for the doctor to see. Dr. Mario winced slightly, mostly from what he said about the pain alone. "Just try tickling my foot."

"Well... If you insist." Dr. Mario held Lumpy's foot with one hand, and stroked his forefinger along the sole with his other hand.

"Aaaah!! Stop it, it tickles!!" Lumpy responded, sounding like he was in pain.

After a few seconds of this, Dr. Mario removed his hands from Lumpy's foot. He looked at Lumpy and Meowth with a serious expression.

"Lumpy, this isn't the chicken pox. You've come down with the measles."

"The measles?!" Lumpy couldn't believe what he just heard. "What's that? Is it the chicken pox?!"

Meowth facepalmed when he heard Lumpy ask that. It was unquestionably one of the stupidest questions he had ever heard from him.

"No, it's a lot worse," Dr. Mario said. "Both of the illnesses involve spots appearing on the sick person's body, but the measles is a lot more serious. People have died from it, you know. The spots that the measles cause are extremely sensitive to pain and light, and that's why people with measles don't scratch themselves. And not only that, you'll start coughing or sneezing as well."

"What?! That's ridiculous!" Lumpy said. "How the heck can spots make me sneeze?"

"The spots don't make you do that. The virus that causes the spots also causes you to sneeze," Dr. Mario corrected him.

"Yeah, just so you know, you can't get any spots up your nose," Meowth said. "It's just the virus tickling your stupid sinuses."

"Am I gonna be okay?" Lumpy asked.

"Yes, but I recommend that you get plenty of rest, drink plenty of liquids and stay away from as many people as you can," said Dr. Mario. "You wouldn't want them to get measles, too."

"Thanks for the advice, doctor." Lumpy got off the examining table. He started to leave, but Dr. Mario put a hand on his shoulder before he could.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Lumpy turned to look at Dr. Mario, only to realize that he was holding a flu mask. Lumpy's eyes widened and pupils shrunk in fear. "You'll need to wear this."

"No... Please!" Lumpy sounded scared. "Not the mask!"

Ignoring his warning, Dr. Mario slipped the flu mask onto Lumpy's nose, putting the elastic band behind his head and antlers. He then took another flu mask and placed it over Lumpy's mouth. Lumpy looked dismayed as one mask covered his nostrils, and the other mask covered his mouth.

"Sorry, Lumpy, but this is for your own good," Dr. Mario said. "Can't let those spots get on your friends!"

"Ugh, gosh darn it..." Lumpy said to himself, quietly.

Meowth put on some rubber gloves, put his hand on Lumpy's shoulder and walked him out of the room, intending to take him home.

Along the way, Lumpy's nostrils flared behind his mask. Presumably, the virus causing his measles really was tickling his sinuses. Lumpy tilted his neck back, took one inhale and let out a loud sneeze.

"Aaaaaah-- CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He was too late to put his hand over his mouth or nose, but both of the masks prevented any spray from being visible. Lumpy groaned, sniffled and gently rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Gesundheit, sicky." Meowth walked him out of the doctor's office.

"I think I'm starting to feel worse..." Lumpy said with a sniffle as he continued to rub his nose.

When they got to the car, Meowth unlocked the doors and put Lumpy in the back seat, as he did before they went to the doctor's office earlier today. Getting into the front seat, Meowth put on his seat belt, started up the car's engine and drove back home. Along the way, Lumpy sneezed a couple of times, any spray they might have contained being blocked by his flu masks. He also sniffled, rubbed his nose and coughed frequently until they finally got home.

If the spots didn't itch, and if he coughed and sneezed while having them, then this for sure wasn't the chicken pox.


	2. Chapter 2

"Uuugh..."

Lumpy groaned as he lay in his bed, wrapping himself in some of his blankets. He was feeling terrible all over. One part of his body felt hot, the other cold, but he also felt achy and sensitive all over. His nose was running constantly, no matter how much he sniffled or wiped his nose. Apparently, taking off those flu masks that Dr. Mario had given him after he had come home wasn't a good idea. Aside from the comparatively smaller amount of spots than the rest of his body, his nose was a blushing red and dripping with small amounts of mucus. And his throat felt like a burning desert. Lumpy could bet that even the largest amount of cold water he could drink wouldn't soothe that hot sensation.

But despite his tedious symptoms, Lumpy tried to see the positives in his illness. First of all, he didn't have to go to work. Instead, he got to relax in his warm, cozy bed. And Meowth had agreed to take care of him, and cater to his every whim. Meowth wasn't willing to do that, but he didn't have much of a choice. After all, Lumpy was sick with something that wasn't a cold or flu for once. But besides those things, being sick was just the worst.

"Aaaaaah..." Lumpy tilted his neck back as he inhaled. His nose twitched and his nostrils flared up. He was going to sneeze. "AaaaaaaaaAAAAH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released the sneeze, with a good amount of mucus spraying out of his nostrils. But that one sneeze wasn't going to provide enough relief. Without much time to recover his breath, Lumpy gasped and exploded again, more mucus escaping from his nose.

"AaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Ugh..." Lumpy sniffled loudly as he rubbed his nose slowly with his forefinger. He had to do it slowly, lest he cause himself any more pain than he already was. Luckily, the nose rubbing didn't feel bad on his nose, but on his finger instead. Not long after he had started, the door to his bedroom opened and Meowth poked his head through.

"Lumpy?" he called.

"Y-yeah?" Lumpy asked, sniffling again.

Meowth walked into the room. He was holding a tray with a bowl of soup, a plastic spoon and some napkins on it. "Your soup is ready," said Meowth.

"Oh, thank you!" Lumpy said as he smiled appreciatively. "How'd you know what I wanted for lunch?"

"What makes you think I'd know?" Meowth asked back. "Anyway, here you go."

Lumpy sat up in his bed as Meowth placed the tray on his lap. Lumpy gave a couple of sniffs of the contents in the bowl, followed by a deep nasal inhale. It was chicken noodle soup, just like his mother used to make. It smelled wonderful, but the steam from the soup tickled his nose, making him need to sneeze. Lumpy exhaled, and then turned his neck away from Meowth as he inhaled.

"Aaaah, aaaaaaaaah... " Lumpy covered his mouth with his hand, and then sneezed. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Gesundheit," Meowth said as Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Thank you." Lumpy sniffled again, then took a napkin from the tray and rubbed his nose with it. Meowth sighed to himself and handed him a box of tissues.

"Here, these'll do better on that sneezy snout of yours," said Meowth.

Lumpy put down his slightly used napkin and took the box of tissues. He pulled out a tissue and blew his nose loudly into it for a second. But a massive pain surged through his nostrils, causing Lumpy to pull his tissue away from his nostrils. He put his hands over his nose, waiting for the pain to go away.

"It hurts when I blow my nose...!" Lumpy whimpered.

"You shouldn't blow it that much, anyway," Meowth mentioned. "Not when you're sick like this."

"Okay..." Lumpy wiped his poor nose with his tissue, and then balled it up and put it aside.

Meowth then picked up the spoon, dipped it into the soup to collect a little, and then offered the spoon to Lumpy. Knowing what he wanted him to do, Lumpy opened his mouth and let the spoon enter his mouth. He swallowed the soup with a smile on his face.

"This is so good..." Lumpy mentioned.

"By the way, when you're finished with this, I'll probably make you more for dinner," Meowth pointed out.

"I'd love that," said Lumpy. Meowth then fed him another spoonful of soup.

Bit by bit, they emptied the bowl, with more and more warm and delicious soup making its way down Lumpy's throat and into his stomach. By the time Lumpy was finished, he was feeling much better, though he could tell he was still sick. He smiled gratefully at Meowth as he tossed the spoon into the empty bowl.

"Thank you so, so much for making me that soup," said Lumpy.

"Hey, as long as it makes you feel better..."

Meowth then put on some rubber gloves - seriously, how many of those gloves did he have? - and took Lumpy's tray off his lap. He walked out of the room, with Lumpy watching him go and retaining that grateful smile on his face. Suddenly, Lumpy's nostrils quivered and he sneezed loudly into a tissue.

"AAAAAH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The edges of the tissue fluttered as Lumpy sneezed into it. He then sighed as he wiped his nose, ever so gently.

"Meowth can be a really nice cat once you get to know him," thought Lumpy.

Meanwhile, Meowth took the tray into the kitchen, removed his gloves, and loaded the dishwasher with the spoon and bowl. He started it up, sighing with relief.

"The next thing I know, he's gonna want me to..."

Before he could finish his idle thought, he heard Lumpy call his name, causing his eyes to go wide. "Meowth!"

Meowth left the kitchen and retreated back into the bedroom. Lumpy was still in bed, looking at him expectantly.

"It's a little hot in here. Would you please turn on my fan?"

Meowth looked up at the ceiling fan above Lumpy, and then at the light switch connecting to the fan. He inhaled and sighed. The switch was just inches from Lumpy's grasp... But regardless, Meowth placed his forefinger on the switch and flipped it on. The fan spun slowly, then faster, sending cool air towards Lumpy. He smiled in satisfaction as he lay back down in bed.

"That's better. Thank you, Meowth," said Lumpy.

"Yeah, sure," Meowth replied as he rolled his eyes.

"But I should warn you, I might get cold soon." Lumpy then coughed a few times into his hand.

"I figured that. But let me know when you do, okay?"

Lumpy nodded in understanding. Meowth went over to the bathroom close to Lumpy's bedroom to wash his hands. Meowth hated water, but if it was cleaning any residue off of his paws, how could he be mad at something that saved him from illness? Lumpy, meanwhile, stayed in his bed, enjoying the cool air until he thought it had done its time. When he was finished drying off his paws, Meowth went back into the bedroom.

"You had enough yet?" he asked.

Lumpy nodded, and Meowth switched off the ceiling fan. The ceiling fan slowed to a stop.

"Thanks." Lumpy gave a small sniffle. "And Meowth, would you please put some lotion on my spots?"

"WHAT?!" Meowth cringed as he heard that. "Me, touch YOUR measles?! No way!"

"But I think that if I put some lotion on my spots, they won't tickle when I touch them," said Lumpy.

Meowth rolled his eyes again, then sighed. "Okay, but I'll need a radiation suit."

"Why?" Lumpy asked.

Not long afterward, Meowth was applying lotion to every one of Lumpy's spots. Meowth was wearing a full-body radiation suit, having taken extreme measures not to catch Lumpy's illness. Lumpy sighed as Meowth rubbed the soothing lotion into his spots.

"Ah, this feels so much better than it did earlier today," said Lumpy.

After a few minutes, all of Lumpy's rashes had been lotioned. Meowth left the bedroom again, cautiously put the lotion back in the bathroom, removed his radiation suit and washed his paws again. By the time he had made it back to Lumpy's bedroom, Lumpy had fallen asleep. Presumably, he had decided to take a nap.

"Ugh, thank goodness..." Meowth said to himself with a sigh of relief. He looked over at the little plush chair in Lumpy's room, a few inches from the front door. Instinctively, he jumped onto the chair, then curled up into a ball and began to drift off to sleep. "I could use a nap myself..."

For quite some time afterward, the room was quiet, with little more than the soft snores of the sick moose and the tired cat Pokemon.


End file.
